Wanted: Negotiating Tips
Discussion
In search of some negotiating tips from experienced car buyers...
I will be buying cash + part ex.
The car I want is at a main dealer. It is 11 months old, mileage of 6500. It has loads of optional extras, which given its age makes me think it might have been a demo. Certainly it has a spec level which would probably only be a factory order. It is listed at £17990, and has been advertised online since early September (almost 3 months).
My part ex is realistically worth £6000-£6500 as a trade-in. I'm not interested in selling private.
So given the above, how can I go about negotiating a good deal? What should I consider a target price?
Any and all advice welcomed. Thanks in advance!
I will be buying cash + part ex.
The car I want is at a main dealer. It is 11 months old, mileage of 6500. It has loads of optional extras, which given its age makes me think it might have been a demo. Certainly it has a spec level which would probably only be a factory order. It is listed at £17990, and has been advertised online since early September (almost 3 months).
My part ex is realistically worth £6000-£6500 as a trade-in. I'm not interested in selling private.
So given the above, how can I go about negotiating a good deal? What should I consider a target price?
Any and all advice welcomed. Thanks in advance!
Knock a grand or two off the part-ex price.
Realise they won't shift a great deal on their price.
Take their advice and sell privately to get more.
Sell privately, get more, go back cash in hand and get the best deal.
Alternatively, ask what the best price is, wait for their answer, try for a few hundred more, if they say yes, go for it.
Realise they won't shift a great deal on their price.
Take their advice and sell privately to get more.
Sell privately, get more, go back cash in hand and get the best deal.
Alternatively, ask what the best price is, wait for their answer, try for a few hundred more, if they say yes, go for it.
See what WBAC will offer for your car.
See what you can get privately for your car.
The best discount might be available if you take out finance, and then look to settle the finance within the cooling off period.
Don't be afraid to show you will walk away from the deal, the next three months aren't the wonderful for used car dealers.
See what you can get privately for your car.
The best discount might be available if you take out finance, and then look to settle the finance within the cooling off period.
Don't be afraid to show you will walk away from the deal, the next three months aren't the wonderful for used car dealers.
Age is the right ballpark for an ex management car, but it could be a demo or an ex rental.
As above, use WBAC to establish a value for your car. If it’s something common around the 6k mark they might be fairly competitive. A main dealer will most likely just trade your car out and give you what they’re offered.
If the car is fairly desirable you won’t get a massive discount, especially as a cash buyer, unless the sticker price is well inflated but that’s rare these days as buyers have much better information than ever and if your car is overpriced people won’t enquire. Based on the WBAC offer and the price of the car, decide your maximum price to change.
To get the best deal, politely refuse all paint protection, GAP Insurance and any other insurance products - even if you want them you can buy them much cheaper elsewhere.
Visit the dealer in person and make it clear you are in a position to buy today.
In my experience dealers are happier throwing things into the deal than discounting, so things like OE mats and if it’s due a service soon you could ask to be included.
Get a price to change, then state you thought your PX was worth more and your budget is £1500 less. Ask what they can do to get nearer to your budget. If they make a token gesture of a couple of hundred quid, state it needs to be nearer a grand to do the deal today, and work from there.
A good ploy is to say to go above that you need authorisation from somebody who is not present like your wife/partner/mother/boss - it doesn’t really matter - but give some excuse why they’re not immediately contactable and you’ll have to check and get back to them tomorrow. Do this only with the deal almost in sight though to get the last few quid out.
The poisition needs to be something like I’ve got £11k available now. You want £11300. I need to speak to my wife to see if she can lend me another £300 as we’d agreed no more than 11k. However she’s on shift until 7pm tonight and she’s not easily contactable at work. I’ll take the figures away, we’ll have a chat this evening and see if I can pursuade her to go for it. Are you in tomorrow?
It kind of the reverse of the salesman’s your friend against the mean and nasty sales manager who won’t agree a discount, but he’ll try really hard for you.
At this point you’ll get “don’t lose it for £300” to which you can say you’ve had it 3 months so I’m willing to chance it. Stand your ground for a bit, then if it’s a deadlock offer to hide £150 or whatever on your credit card to get the car bought because coming back tomorrow will be inconvenient because you’ve got church or some other noble pursuit.
As above, use WBAC to establish a value for your car. If it’s something common around the 6k mark they might be fairly competitive. A main dealer will most likely just trade your car out and give you what they’re offered.
If the car is fairly desirable you won’t get a massive discount, especially as a cash buyer, unless the sticker price is well inflated but that’s rare these days as buyers have much better information than ever and if your car is overpriced people won’t enquire. Based on the WBAC offer and the price of the car, decide your maximum price to change.
To get the best deal, politely refuse all paint protection, GAP Insurance and any other insurance products - even if you want them you can buy them much cheaper elsewhere.
Visit the dealer in person and make it clear you are in a position to buy today.
In my experience dealers are happier throwing things into the deal than discounting, so things like OE mats and if it’s due a service soon you could ask to be included.
Get a price to change, then state you thought your PX was worth more and your budget is £1500 less. Ask what they can do to get nearer to your budget. If they make a token gesture of a couple of hundred quid, state it needs to be nearer a grand to do the deal today, and work from there.
A good ploy is to say to go above that you need authorisation from somebody who is not present like your wife/partner/mother/boss - it doesn’t really matter - but give some excuse why they’re not immediately contactable and you’ll have to check and get back to them tomorrow. Do this only with the deal almost in sight though to get the last few quid out.
The poisition needs to be something like I’ve got £11k available now. You want £11300. I need to speak to my wife to see if she can lend me another £300 as we’d agreed no more than 11k. However she’s on shift until 7pm tonight and she’s not easily contactable at work. I’ll take the figures away, we’ll have a chat this evening and see if I can pursuade her to go for it. Are you in tomorrow?
It kind of the reverse of the salesman’s your friend against the mean and nasty sales manager who won’t agree a discount, but he’ll try really hard for you.
At this point you’ll get “don’t lose it for £300” to which you can say you’ve had it 3 months so I’m willing to chance it. Stand your ground for a bit, then if it’s a deadlock offer to hide £150 or whatever on your credit card to get the car bought because coming back tomorrow will be inconvenient because you’ve got church or some other noble pursuit.
As explained in other threads it's difficult to say how much you might be able to get discounted off the price. You don't know how much profit is in it for the dealer and some are happy to sit on stock. My advice is:
Try WBAC, Evans Halshaw, What Car etc to see what a realistic value is for your car.
Do plenty of research on how much similar cars to the one you're after are listed at.
Decide what you think the car is worth, and taking into account a realistic part-ex price, you have a cost to change you're willing to pay. Knock £300 off this and use this as you're starting point with the dealer. If they go for it, good times. If they don't, you've atill got some wriggle room.
The dealer WILL want to close the deal when you're in the showroom so don't be afraid to get up to walk out. Very often this will persuade them to go with what you want.
Try WBAC, Evans Halshaw, What Car etc to see what a realistic value is for your car.
Do plenty of research on how much similar cars to the one you're after are listed at.
Decide what you think the car is worth, and taking into account a realistic part-ex price, you have a cost to change you're willing to pay. Knock £300 off this and use this as you're starting point with the dealer. If they go for it, good times. If they don't, you've atill got some wriggle room.
The dealer WILL want to close the deal when you're in the showroom so don't be afraid to get up to walk out. Very often this will persuade them to go with what you want.
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